Congratulations and Welcome Onboard to New Advisor, Dave Walker!

[Dave Jensen]

We're lucky at the AAAS Science Careers Discussion Forum to have a number of very dedicated senior advisors, each of whom has joined the forum discussion to help others. That's our team's only motivation, and I can't thank our existing advisors enough for all the help they've given this audience.

But something I've felt we were missing -- for a long time now -- is the direct connection to a younger person who has gone the route of the education and experience of our readership, but who has more recently broken through and succeeded with the job search. That's what I was thinking about when I asked Dave Walker to join the advisory team.

After receiving his BA in Biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania, Dave finished his PhD in Pharmacology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. During his training, he began to develop an interest in the business side of science. To foster this, he began volunteering at student-run associations in his spare time. That's how I met Dave in person, through an invited talk that he arranged for me at JH.

Dr. Walker has been great here in posting about the importance of networking and relationship building in career development, and he speaks from his own personal experience. He became co-president of the Hopkins Biotech Network and interfaced with students and alumni across the science career spectrum; his extracurricular hobby had developed into a passion that opened doors. During this time, he was at first a lurker on the forum, and then as he developed his confidence, he began to post and as you know he's been quite active.

Dave made the transition from his PhD to a Key Account Manager position at Active Motif, a biotech company specializing in products and services for life science research. I'm happy that he's agreed to visit the forum frequently and contribute his special brand of no-nonsense career posts.

Help me welcome Dave Walker to the team!

Dave Jensen, Moderator

[Walter X.]

Congrats from a Lurker, Dave.

W.

[Ana]

Welcome Dave!

[Dave Walker]

Thanks for the warm welcome, Dave! I'm really happy to be a part of the Forum. I've always said that there is no job-related question that can't be answered from a post here somewhere, and yet I learn new things every week.

I look forward to being part of this community, and helping out however I can.

And thanks to Ana and Walter; hopefully this can inspire other longtime lurkers to give talking a shot :)

[Dick Woodward]

Dave:

Let me add my welcome as well - nice to have you aboard.

Dick

[BMK]

Congratulations! It's definitely a well deserved honor.

[PG]

I have been offline for a couple of weeks so I am a bit late. Welcome to the team!